Worldwide Emerging Environmental Issues Affecting The Us Military June 2010 Report

This report is comprised of summaries and analysis of environmental issues affecting the U.S. military. Topics include: environmental security, energy, biodiversity, natural resources, emissions, energy security, malaria epidemics, climate change, food and water security, computer modeling, and nanotechnology safety issues.

The world's first international research center dedicated to "creeping environmental problems" has been established in the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou. These are the slow and cumulative problems, like global warming and desertification. The Center's vice-president, Ye Qian, is from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. There will be more than 20 scientists from various countries working on the center's projects. The military should consider establishing liaison with this institution, and follow its work. It affords an excellent opportunity to maintain contact with research and researchers on global long-range environmental issues.

These pages comprise the summary and analysis of this report, which include topics such as: biosafety protocol advances, cluster munitions, hazardous chemicals, Afro-Arab strategy for addressing agricultural developments, waste management, water management, technological advances with environmental security implications, energy, global warming, and climate change.

This report is composed of summaries and analysis. Topics include: oil spills, technological assessments, energy efficiency, nuclear proliferation, illegal weapons in Iraq, climate change, energy efficiency, biowaste management, nanotechnology, water management, environmental crime, and alternative energy development.

This report comprises the summary and analysis of environmental issues affecting the U.S. military. Some of the topics include: UN environmental mediation program, international standards on the treatment of the environment in war, EU-US joint energy efficiency standards for office equipment, biowaste treatment, technology advances with environmental security implications, marine environmental protection, human health, health hazards, water and food security, sea ice, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and sea ice,

The UN was organized 60 years ago around the principle of preventing national wars. Today it should be reorganized around the principle of addressing human security, which would reinvent global governance, proposes former Canadian foreign minister, Lloyd Axworthy. A UN cohesive response system able to rapidly deploy aid when and where necessary is needed now to efficiently respond to current civil conflicts and disasters. There may be an emerging consensus that human security could be the next organizing principle for international relations. Whether or not Lloyd Axworthy will promote the idea in the UN General Assembly, the idea of re-organizing the UN on human security issues could well be inevitable. The military should create alternative scenarios for such potential UN restructuring and study how it might contribute to and be affected by each scenario.

Some topics discussed in this report are: food security, nuclear energy, environmental protection, technological advances, climate change, safety issues, nanotechnology, natural disasters, oceans, health, glaciers, sea ice, detectors, energy efficient technologies, seabed exploration, and clean water and sanitation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Item 1 -- China and U.S. Announce Climate Change Goals; Item 2 -- Changes to War Crimes Proposed for the International Criminal Court; Item 3 -- Increased Calls for Banning Nonlethal Riot-control Agents; Item 4 -- Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications, including New Technique Helps Reduce Nanoparticle Wastewater Pollution, Evaporation Provides Power in New Desalination System, Increasing Energy Efficiency Technologies, and Software Standards to Connect Data Globally; Item 5 -- Updates on Previously Identified Issues, including New Decisions Adopted for Strengthening the Montreal Protocol, UNECE Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change, International Gene Synthesis Consortium Created for Increasing Biosecurity, United Kingdom and U.S. Legislators Review Geoengineering Proposals, EPA Issues New Regulations on Water Pollution from Construction, Ultrathin Solar Panels Could End Up On the European Union list of Hazardous Materials Due to Cadmium Content, Climate Change (Scientific Evidence and Natural Disasters, Food and Water Security, Health, Melting Glaciers and Sea Ice, Rising Sea Levels, Migration, Adaptation, Climate Modeling, and Post-Kyoto Negotiations), and Nanotechnology Safety Issues; Item 6 -- Reports and Information Suggested for Review, including Climate Change Threats Increasingly Top Security Agendas, European Environment Agency Draws First Map of Europe's Noise Exposure, and Consumer's Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste.

Table of Contents: "Copenhagen Accord" Brokered by President Obama at United Nations Climate Change Conference is a Step Forward in Negotiations -- Next Stop Mexico; Seven Tipping Elements That Could Transform the Planetary Systems; Emerging International Packaging Standards to Reduce Environmental Footprints; Studies Show Increased Hazards from Some Types of Airborne Particles; Technological Advances with Environmental Security Implications, including New Detection and Cleanup Techniques, New Technology to Measure Single Nanoparticles, NIST Awards Development Funding for Extended Sensor for Infrastructure Health, and Increasing Energy Efficiency Technologies; Updates on Previously Identified Issues, including Climate Change, No Enforcement Mechanism Proposed for Strengthening the Bioweapons Treaty Due to "rapidly changing nature" of the threat, China to Create an Emergency Environmental Management System, Toxic Compound Detected in Chlorinated Tap Water, Environmental Effects from Flame Retardant Manufacturing Impurities, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increase Ocean Noise Pollution, Arctic "Pole of Peace" Suggested to Address Arctic Security Issues, Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma Continues, and Nanotechnology Safety Issues Item; Reports and Information Suggested for Review, including State of the World 2010 Calls for a New Paradigm in Addressing Security, Summary of European Battery Regulations Released, and Water Treatment Technologies for the Removal of High-Toxicity Pollutants. The Appendix contains expanded background information on some items.